Meet The Visionary and Creative Force Behind Vegan Treats

Written by Júlia Almeida

Danielle Konya, founder of Vegan Treats, is redefining plant-based desserts with her unique, indulgent creations. In this interview, she talks about her inspiration, challenges, and success in the world of plant-based sweets.

Crafted dung beetles rolling chocolate truffles, meticulously sculpted eyeballs, a vibrant, realistic red heart, a creature from the Black Lagoon, and adorable animals—all beautifully transformed into cakes! Something popped up in my feed today: crazy, colorful, unapologetic, and stunning cakes. I couldn’t resist clicking on the photo. That’s how I discovered Vegan Treats. I was immediately captivated by the bold imagery and the striking aesthetic of their feed and I started researching the bakery. That’s when I found out it had been named one of the top 10 best bakeries in the world by American Express, and their desserts have earned them a PETA Proggy Award for Best Bakery.

Founded by Danielle Konya and located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Vegan Treats has been creating desserts since 1998. I read about customers traveling across states just to visit this cake paradise! It truly seems like a dream destination where fantasy meets dark, delicious charm. Imagine an Edgar Allan Poe story brought to life in cake form!

Their artisanal chocolate box collection, “Fatally Yours”, is especially popular for occasions like Valentine’s Day—and why not Halloween?! Definitely the perfect gift no matter what time of year. The 2025 collection includes three stunning chocolate boxes: Love in the Poison Forest Heart, The Lonesome Ghost, and The Enchanted Hare. Each heart-shaped box comes filled with delicious treats, like the white chocolate creamy speculoos ghost girl and the charming pink white chocolate strawberry crunch ghost cats. The beautiful artwork on the boxes was created in collaboration with fine artist Katie Gamb, perfectly capturing Vegan Treats’ signature mysterious and gothic aesthetic. These boxes feel like collectible pieces of art.

Anyway, Vegan Treats certainly is refreshing. One recent post features an amazingly colorful cake decorated to look, in the sweetest way, like chewed bubble gum, captioned, “Our cakes are adorably gross—in the best way possible!”

I knew I had to reach out to Danielle—the visionary behind it all. She’s the creative mind behind Vegan Treats, where cakes transport you to a whole new world. And that’s exactly what I did.

What was the most surprising feedback you’ve received about your desserts?

I’m always surprised when people expect our desserts to taste bad simply because they’re vegan. In reality, you’d never know the difference. I believe that when you’re using high-quality ingredients and baking with heart and soul—especially with recipes you’ve been perfecting for over 20 years—the results speak for themselves. Our desserts don’t just look incredible; they taste just as magnificent.

Of course, we occasionally encounter critics of our more macabre treats, like cakes featuring bugs made from sugar. But we embrace dark humor—it’s a part of what makes us unique and where we truly thrive.

You guys are so creative! Can you tell us about your process for creating new flavors or products?

When you put a group of creatives in a room—people with limitless talent and passion for what they do—the sky truly is the limit. Inspiration can strike anywhere: during sleepless nights, from patterns on napkins or wallpaper, paintings, holiday collections in retail stores, Taylor Swift and pop culture moments, or even while hiking and discovering a fascinating bug, slug, or patch of moss.

We’ve moved beyond taking inspiration from other cakes. Our goal is to create things that are truly new and never seen before, pushing boundaries in both flavor and design. The ideas never seem to run out, and that’s what keeps our work so fun and exciting.

What is your favorite part of running a vegan bakery?

Running a business never really gets easier—in fact, it’s harder now than ever—but I remind myself why I do this. I get to embrace creativity every day, expand the plant-based food landscape, and save animals in the process. It’s about inspiring people to think with their fork and showing them how impactful their choices can be.

Every challenge, whether it’s sleepless nights or solving big logistical hurdles, is worth it when I see how far we’ve come and how many lives we’ve touched. From perfecting recipes to creating something completely new, it’s that blend of artistry and purpose that keeps me going.

Your Instagram posts are stunning! How do you approach capturing the perfect shot of your treats?

It all starts with planning. We think about every detail before we even begin, from the cake board and cake stand to how the post will fit into our feed. Is it a dark post or a light one? What colors do we need? We keep a photoshoot book where we sketch and plan ideas, sometimes saving them for the perfect week or season. By the time we’re ready to take the photo, the process is quick and seamless because we plan ahead, and our photographer makes it effortless.

Details are my happy place, so I direct the shot to capture what I see as the perfect cake angle. And honestly, we never seem to have quite the right cake stands or seamless paper—but that’s all part of the fun!

Has social media, particularly Instagram, played a big role in showcasing the creativity and appeal of your desserts?

Social media, especially Instagram, has been a wonderful way to showcase our creativity and introduce people to new collections, like our chocolate boxes for example. But it’s important to remember that a lot of likes on a post don’t always translate into sales.

We’re living in a challenging global economy, and so many amazing small businesses are closing their doors. It’s more critical than ever to support small businesses like mine. If you love something you see on Instagram or a delicious treat like ours, show some love by turning that click into action. Support your local economy wherever you live—it makes a bigger impact than you might realize.

The “Fatally Yours” gourmet chocolate box has such a unique and bold aesthetic—can you share who is behind the design and how that visual identity reflects the personality of Vegan Treats?

We change the design annually, and this year marks a special milestone for us—it’s our first fine art series. We worked with the incredibly talented Katie Gamb, who created custom oil paintings specifically for this collection. Her artwork is then handed over to my design team, who translate it into a cohesive collection, including the custom chocolate pieces.

The process takes about two years from concept to completion, and it’s such a rewarding journey to see these designs evolve. From the initial spark of an idea to the moment we launch, it’s an amazing experience. The bold, dark aesthetic of the “Fatally Yours” Collection perfectly reflects the personality of Vegan Treats—creative, unique, and unapologetically dark, with a touch of sweetness.

Dung Beetle Cake: “This cake is as beautiful as it is unconventional. The base features a rich chocolate cake layered with whipped chocolate frosting and light, fluffy chocolate mousse, all finished with elegant chocolate truffles. We’ve always appreciated dark humor, so we thought it would be a conversation starter to hand-sculpt dung beetles rolling the truffles up the side of the cake. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s exactly the kind of unique yet classic design that makes us, well, us.”

“I Chews You” Cake: “This idea came to me while brainstorming food concepts for Valentine’s Day, and I literally shrieked when the concept “stuck.” Valentine’s Day can feel so predictable, and we love turning tradition on its head and doing what feels right to us. Inspired by playful sayings like "Stuck on You" and "Let's Stick Together," my brain kept coming back to chewed gum—and it just clicked. We drew inspiration from Portland's iconic gum wall and had the best time wadding up balls of fondant and experimenting with sculpting tools to create realistic teeth imprints. It was hilarious and such a fun process. For the flavors, we kept it classic to balance the quirky design: vanilla bean cake layered with strawberry cream cheese mousse. They sold out almost instantly, proving that even a weird idea can be a huge hit.”

“I’m So Depressed I Act Like It’s My Birthday” Cakes: “Taylor Swift-inspired cakes are some of our absolute favorites to create—we end up remaking them again and again! Designed in dark, moody eggplant tones with pops of pink hues, these cakes perfectly capture the bittersweet vibe of the phrase. The flavor is just as layered as the concept—a rich chocolate blackout cake with decadent chocolate frosting and crunchy betterfinger chunks. The combination strikes the perfect balance of sweet, salty, and irresistible texture. Each bite delivers velvety chocolate richness with the satisfying crunch of chocolate and peanut butter, creating a cake that’s as indulgent as it is emotional. As a huge Taylor Swift fan, I’ve been inspired by her music and creativity for years. I’ve even seen most of her tours, including the Eras tour, with my mom. These cakes are our way of celebrating her artistry and connecting with fellow fans who feel the same way.”

Meet the author:

Julia Almeida is a Brazilian vegan writer and international model based in California. With over a decade of veganism, she has traveled widely, often during times when finding plant-based options was far more challenging than it is today. These experiences pushed her to discover creative ways to cook and uncover vegan-friendly spots within diverse cultural landscapes.

Through her work, Julia merges storytelling and advocacy, inspiring compassionate living. Passionate about animals, she is dedicated to raising awareness about fostering, adoption, and supporting non-profit animal rescues, encouraging others to recognize all animals as intelligent, loving beings deserving of respect and kindness.